The present invention generally relates to methods and apparatus for monitoring the viewers of a television. This invention in particular relates to a method and apparatus for accurately monitoring the actual viewing habits and activities of individuals viewing television programs without requiring any action on the part of the viewer.
Information about the viewing habits and activities of household members is very important to television networks and cable television companies. By determining the viewing time of various televised programs by individuals in selected households, the networks can determine the popularity of their shows. Such information is used by the networks to establish ratings for various programs or shows and to determine the advertising rates charged to sponsors who wish to air their televised commercials during those programs. Viewing information is also used by the advertising sponsors to determine the extent to which their commercials are being viewed by the television audience.
Several devices and systems have been described in the prior art for obtaining the desired information. Percy et al. in U.S. 4,646,145 describe a keyboard system for the television viewer to indicate not only that the viewer is watching a program, but also to indicate their preferences, reactions and ratings of the particular program being watched. The disadvantage of this system is that it requires direct viewer participation to record the necessary information and data through the viewer's keyboard.
Other systems have attempted to reduce the required participation by the television viewer while still being able to identify each individual viewer of the television program and recording the time which each viewer watcher the program in question. For example, Lurie, U.S. Pat. No. 4,626,904, Heller, U.S. Pat. No. 4,652,915 and Weinblatt, U.S. Pat. No. 4,695,879, each disclose systems involving headphones or a monitoring unit worn on the head of the individual watching the television program. These systems also suffer from the disadvantage that if the individual fails or forgets to wear the headphone or monitoring unit, then the desired information is not available. Some of these units attempted to make it essential for the individual to use the headphone unit, for example, by requiring the headphone unit to be in use on the individual before the audio portion of the television program is available to the individual. These systems have the disadvantage of being undesirable for the individual to use, since it is not always practical, comfortable or pleasant to watch television programs while wearing headphones or monitoring units on one's head. These systems can also give erroneous information if the headset is not oriented properly or is improperly worn by the individual, thus indicating that the individual is viewing the television when he or she actually is not or indicating they are not viewing when they actually are viewing the television.
Another system has been proposed which would obtain the desired information through a passive system, i.e., without any participation on the part of the television viewer. For example, Kiewit et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,644,509, disclose an ultrasonic detection system for determining the number of people present in the area from which a television can be viewed. This system suffers from the disadvantage that it merely detects the presence of persons in the designated monitored area while the television is receiving a certain program; it does not indicate whether the persons present are actually watching the program. This system contains a desired feature that the system is passive with respect to the television viewer, i.e., there is no action required on the part of the viewer to activate the information collection system; however, this system collects incomplete and inadequate information and data regarding the actual viewing of the television programs.
It is apparent from the above that there exists a need for a television viewer monitoring device and system which is passive with respect to the television viewer and which collects and provides the desired accurate and detailed information regarding the television viewing activities of the individuals being monitored.